408 General Notices. 



tainly true ; but we of the crooked knife are but on a par with doctors in 

 such matters. The immediate as well as ultimate influence on the tree of 

 such a denudatory process is indeed very considerable ; no wonder that 

 mistaken notions should prevail. And I am sorry to be obliged to confess 

 that such, together with an unusual pressure of business in modern gard- 

 enino-, have, in the main, conspired to defeat the attainment of a system 

 which shall supersede the necessity of mutilating processes ; for such are 

 ringing, root-pruning, &c., all which must at times be borne as necessary 

 evils, but argue something wrong in the setting out. Utopian schemes of 

 perfection are, however, not of a sublunary character, and, of course, no 

 more to be expected in gardening than in any other art. Out-door garden- 

 ing must ever be liable to change, from the vicissitudes of the season ; and 

 we must therefore deal with such affairs as we find them, and waive for the 

 present all ideal perfection. 



It should be borne in mind that every cut with the knife, and every pinch 

 of the fino-er and thumb, technically termed " stopping," excercises, for a 

 time at least, a corresponding amount of restriction on the root. Indeed, it 

 would be no difficult matter to convert a young forest tree into a mere bush 

 by commencing and rigidly pursuing such a course for the first seven years 

 of its life. 



One of the first points to appreciate, with regard more especially to 

 trained trees, whether by the fan mode or horizontally, is the continual 

 tendency of the main leaders of such trees to establish a new leader in the 

 most perpendicular direction, or where the most spacious sap vessels exist. 

 This is of course a mere consequence of an immutable law of nature, 

 which in the main impels the shoots of trees upwards. Now it is perfectly 

 obvious that when the main flow of sap obtains a new channel of this 

 description, such must be at the expense of the buds ; and more espe- 

 cially the fruit situated near the terminal points of the horizontal or fan 

 branches. The Winter Nelis pear and the Passe Colmar, are pretty good 

 instances of this habit. It is pretry obvious then, I think, that the first act 

 of disbudding should commence with these decoys. The season being 

 young when this operation becomes requisite, all further disbudding should 

 stand over until midsummer, when I hold it absolutely necessary to proceed 

 in a progressive way, with the other portions of the tree. The next point 

 is, to go over the whole of the leading shoots, and remove all over-luxu- 

 riant spray, without exception ; leaving, perhaps, a couple of leaves at the 

 base of each spray. The amount removed will in ordinary cases comprise 

 about one half of the young spray ; this however depends on the character 

 and age of the tree, for, in the case of one old or hard worked, I hold it 

 essential to permit a much greater amount of shade through the instru- 

 mentality of newly made wood ; indeed close stopping with such trees 

 would soon destroy them altogether. 



Exceptions must however be again made here, as to the habits of the 

 tree in question ; for in running the eye over our orchard or kitchen garden 

 fruits in general, two distinct groups will present themselves, — the one 

 bearing in the main on natural spurs, the other chiefly on the young wood. 



